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Friday, 16 September 2011

Lost. Not Found.

The weather today has been glorious. A warm, sunny day, not quite what you’d expect from the autumnal conkers and fading leaves on the ground. Little Pip and I made our way to Kew Gardens (one of our favourite haunts) for a playdate with one of his friends.

One day, I will write proper review of Kew, because it is a super place to visit. Toddlers can run free within the grounds with no fear of vehicles or dogs, being run over by bigger kids on bikes, or any of the other usual hazards we encounter daily. It’s a relaxing day out, the playground and children’s area can keep my little man occupied for hours, and that’s before we’ve visited the glasshouses, climbed the treetop walk or hidden in the Badgers set.

After our picnic lunch I realised that my little mischief maker was wearing only one shoe. One, of the pair, purchased from Clarks a week ago. So, the hunt began. We hunted high and low for the missing shoe. I retraced our steps, time after time. Little Pip offered up the suggestions of looking either ‘in the forest’ or ‘in the meadow’. This was slightly helpful except, half of Kew gardens looks like a forest – full of trees, and the rest of it looks rather like a meadow – lots of grass. I guess that's the logic of a 2 year old for you.

Our quest was not helped at all by the colour of the shoe. This was the first time we have deviated from mother’s favourite choice of navy, opting instead for an autumnal brown hue. The missing shoe, which I suspected was somewhere amongst the brown bark chippings and leaves, was blending in rather nicely. (The photo above was taken with the remaining shoe.) After an hour and a half of searching, and asking at the café, shop and lost property, I admitted defeat.

Somewhere amidst 300 acres of ‘forest’ and ‘meadow’ lies our lost shoe. Next time we visit the shoe shop, we will be purchasing a luminous yellow pair.